ASSOCIATED PRESS                                                                                                   Nov. 20, 2014

By Baba Ahmed                          

BAMAKO, Mali  — Mali's emerging Ebola crisis deepened Thursday as the government announced that a doctor had died from the disease, becoming the second health worker fatality linked to a single patient initially thought to have kidney disease.

Health care workers at a screening center for the Ebola virus on Monday await patients at the border village of Kouremale, Mali, between Mali and Guinea.

At least five people now have died from Ebola after coming into contact with a 70-year-old grand imam, who was brought to the Malian capital of Bamako from Guinea, the bordering country where the regional Ebola epidemic first began.

The death of a 25-year-old male nurse at Clinique Pasteur who treated the imam first prompted health authorities to review past patients. ...Malian authorities are now following more than 300 people, including those who helped prepare the imam's body for burial after he succumbed to the disease.

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USA TODAY                                                       Nov. 20, 2014

by Greg Zoroya

MONROVIA, Liberia — Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declared Wednesday that her nation is turning the tide against the deadly Ebola virus, and "we want to have zero cases by Christmas."

"It's a tall order. We're trying to work at that," Johnson Sirleaf said in an interview with USA TODAY. "We like to say that Ebola was running after us two months ago. Today, we are running after Ebola."

The World Health Organization released figures Wednesday showing that nearly 3,000 Liberians have died from Ebola since the virus first flared in a northern county last spring before exploding into the capital in June and July. The country has had more cases and deaths than any other.

As assistance from aid groups, the United Nations and the United States flooded into the country, the rate of infection and death declined dramatically in recent weeks... The number of daily Ebola infections in Liberia has declined from nearly 100 a day in September to about 25.

WHO status reports on West Africa
(Two items. Scroll down)

REUTERS                                                                                                                      Nov. 19, 2014

By Stephanie Nebehay
 GENEVA - The toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to 5,420 deaths out of 15,145 cases in eight countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, with transmission of the deadly virus still "intense and widespread" in Sierra Leone.

The figures, through Nov. 16, represent a jump of 243 deaths and 732 cases since those issued last Friday, and cases continue to be under-reported, the WHO said in its latest update.

Sierra Leone, a former British colony, confirmed 533 new cases in the week to Nov. 16, it said, accounting for much of the increase. It also reported 63 deaths since last Friday.

"Much of this was driven by intense transmission in the country's west and north," the WHO said.

Epidemic Delays Rollout of Jobs Meant for Residents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

WALL STREET JOURNAL                                                                                             Nov. 19, 2014
By Patrick McGroarty in Liberia, David Gauthier-Villars in Guinea
and Alex MacDonald in London

...a promising corner of the global economic frontier is pocked with stalled mining projects. The Ebola epidemic has scared off ships and planes; prompted expatriates to abandon their posts; and delayed the rollout of thousands of jobs meant for residents of the three poor West African countries hardest hit by the virus: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

A three-story steel shiploader at ArcelorMittal’s port in the Liberian city of Buchanan is part of a $1.7 billion expansion delayed by Ebola. Patrick McGroarty/The Wall Street Journal

“All the projects are at a standstill,” said Mr. Foulah, chief executive of the mining-explosives firm ECP Guinée.